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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. stock — goods
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. degree — from a university
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. hand — help
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. deal — to handle
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. bat — the animal
  17. stock — shares
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. wax — to grow
  20. pitch — completely
  21. squash — to crush
  22. squash — the sport
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — part of the body

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com